[tor-project] Tor blocked in Venezuela

[David Fifield]

On Thu, Jun 21, 2018 at 12:28:10PM +0200, Maria Xynou wrote:
> As of last night (or last morning, Venezuela-time), we've been receiving
> reports from locals in Venezuela that Tor is being blocked.
> 
> State-owned CANTV is reportedly blocking access to Tor and obfs4.
> 
> They've been running OONI Probe tests that seem to confirm this, though
> it remains unclear if other ISPs in Venezuela are blocking access to Tor
> (and Tor bridges) as well.
> 
> This follows weeks of increased censorship, particularly targeting media
> websites (like lapatilla.com and elpitazo.com).
> 
> What strategies would be relevant here?

It's likely that the obfs4 blocking is being effected by IP address
blocking of the default obfs4 bridges. My guess is that non-default
bridges from bridges.torproject.org will work.

Idea: turn the situation into a teachable moment by making a
Spanish-language tweet/blogpost that contains one or two non-default
bridge lines and instructions on where to paste them, *plus* a link to
https://blog.torproject.org/breaking-through-censorship-barriers-even-when-tor-blocked
or similar that shows how to get more bridges when the tweeted ones get
blocked.

My thinking is that while people normally have no incentive to use
anything but a default bridge, they can learn the skills they need now
that there is a reason.